Automatic yarn-package winding machine



Dec. 5, 1967 l s. FRST sso AUTOMATIC YARN-PACKAGE WINDING MACHINE Filed March l0, 1966 United States Patent() 4 claims. (ci 242-355) My invention relates to a machine for automatically winding yarn packages, particularly cross-wound packages such as cheeses or cones, of a desired shape and size, from a number of relatively small bobbins, cops, and similar yarn-supply coils.

Automatic yarn-package winding machines, particularly cross-wound spool winding machines, are known to be provided with mechanism for automatically exchanging take-up spools, removing the fully wound take-up spool from the take-up spool holder of the particular winding station of the machine and introducing a new unwound spool core in its place to receive the next package. It has also been known to provide an endless conveyor belt or chain alongside the individual stations of the yarn winding machine for removing the wound take-up spools. To prevent the wound take-up spool, that has been exchanged, from arriving at the conveyor belt at the same moment and at the same location on the conveyor belt as another wound take-up spool coming from a different winding station, the conveyor belt is provided with a spool sensing member opposite each winding station for controlling a blocking member that prevents the delivery of additional wound spools to the conveyor belt when the conveyor belt is fully occupied with spools from other winding stations. It has been found, however, that the expenses necessary for providing such a sensing device are relatively great.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide in a yarn-package winding machine, means for preventing a replaced, wound take-up spool at one winding station from reaching the conveyor belt at the same instant that another take-up spool from a different winding station is located at the same place on the conveyor belt, which is relatively simpler and considerably less expensive than the sensing devices heretofore employed for such purpose.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, I provide in an automatic yarn-package winding machine hav ing means for automatically replacing wound take-up spools and conveyor means for removing the wound takeup spools, the improvement comprising means for discontinuously or intermittently operating the conveyor means, and means for blocking the delivery of wound take-up spools to the conveyor means when theconveyor means is in motion.

In accordance with yet another feature of my invention, I prevent the delivery of yarn supply spools to the moving endless belt by blocking the take-up spool exchange apparatus.,V

In accordance with further features o-f my invention, I provide automatic yarn-package winding machine having an endless conveyor belt system for removing newly wound take-up spools, comprising means for operating the conveyor belt system discontinuously or intermittently, and means for feeding the wound take-up spool to the conveyor belt system, said means for feeding the wound take-up spools being prevented from feeding the spools to the conveyor belt system when the conveyor belt system is in motion.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in automatic yarn-package winding machine, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalence of the claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the single figure of the drawings which is a schematic side elevational view, partly in section, of a winding station forming part of a multi-station winding machine.

The illustration is a schematic side elevation, partly in section, of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with yarn-package winding machines of the type and general design corresponding to my Patents Nos. 3,033,478, 3,092,340 and 3,184,174 to which reference may be had, if desired, with respect to features not essential to the present invention proper. However, various components and their operation, known from the foregoing patents are included in the following description of the machine illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in order to render the invention more easily understandable. The reference numerals in the accompanying drawing are substantially identical with those used for respective functionaliy 'similar components in Patents Nos. 3,092,340 and 3,184,174.

As is known from the aforementioned patents, when the take-up spool 21 is fully wound and hence the disc 103 on rod 102 is raised to the illustrated position, cam 105 turns counterclockwise until the cam-control lever 106 is released. The spring 141 then snaps the lever 106 counterclockwise so that the connecting rod 143 linked to another arm of the lever 106 and with a trigger detent 144 acts to disengage the detent 144 from a cooperating cam disc 145 of a group of coaxially joined cams. The counter clockwise movement yof the lever 106 which thus frees the cam disc 145 from the detent 144, thereby permits the joined cams to rotate counterclockwise. A slip clutch (not shown) alfords continued rotation of the shaft on which the cams are mounted when the cam disc 145 is kept arrested by engagement of the detent 144 in a notch of the cam disc 145. As soon as the detent 144 is removed from the notch in the cam disc 145, in a manner described in my aforementioned patents, the operational steps for exchanging the wound take-up yarn packages as well as for securing the take-up yarn on the new spool core are ef-` fected.

In accordance with my invention, disengagement of the cam disc 145 from the detent 144 is prevented, as shown in the ligure, by a double arm lever 522 pivoted on the machine frame at 522:1. The double arm lever 522 is provided with a catch or pawl 5Z2b at one end thereof opposite the end of a nosepiece 144a extending from the detent 144. It is assumed in the ligure that the endless conveyor means, a conveyor belt 307 in the illustrated ernhodiment, is in motion. Consequently, the pawl 522b has engaged the nosepiece 144er of the detent 144 so that the detent 144 cannot be pivoted due to the action of the spring 141 from the lever 106 through the connecting rod 143 and cannot therefore disengage the cam disc 145 from the detent 144. Thus the cams adjacent the cam disc 145 cannot rotate so that the swing arm 168 cannot be pivoted through the follower pin 174 about the shaft 167 in the manner described, for example, in Patent No. 3,092,340. Consequently, the linking rod 400, pivoted at one end on an extension 168a of the swing arm 168 and on the other end to one arm of a bell-crank lever 401 pivotably mounted on an extension of the machine frame, cannot be actuated to pivot the other elongated arm of the bellcrank lever. The bell-crank lever is thereby blocked from engaging the wound take-up spool 21 and from pushing it onto the conveyor belt 307 after the take-up spool 21 has bee-n suitably released from its holder by mechanism such as is disclosed in Patent No. 3,092,340, for example.

Control of the double arm lever 522 is elfected in the illustrated embodiment With the aid of an electromagnet 601 which is electrically connected in the circuit controlling the electric motor 602 for driving the conveyor belt 307. This control circuit includes both the symbolically indicated current source 603 and the symbolically shown switch 604 for the motor which, as shown in the figure, is in the closed position, thereby activating the circuit so that the motor 602 is energized and the conveyor belt 307 can be set in motion. Simultaneously with the excitation of the motor 602, the electromagnet 60-1 is also energized so that the movable core thereof is drawn into the coil causing the `double arm lever 522 to pivot counterclockwise about the axis 522a whereby the take-up yarn spool exchange is blocked in the aforementioned manner. When the switch 604 is opened and the conveyor belt 307 is accordingly halted, the armature or movable core of the electromagnet 601 drops due to the pull of gravity so that the double arm lever 522 is pivoted about its axis 522g in a clockwise direction and the pawl 522b consequently disengages from the nosepiece 144a of the detent 144.

By means of my invention, two appreciable advantages are achieved as against the winding machines of the old art. With the aid of my invention, the aforedescribed problem of blocking the delivery of wound take-up spools to the moving conveyor belt means is solved by essentially simpler means than heretofore employed. Secondly, the take-up spools are also handled exceptionally gently or carefully. It is furthermore possible to operate the automatic yarn winding machine constructed in accordance with my invention so that the conveyor belt system is actuated only when servicing personnel are prepared to remove by hand the cross-wound spools arriving at the end of the conveyor belt, in order to carefully lay it aside, hang it or place it in the mobile carriage (not shown) of a creel for labels. Since, according to the invention, the supply of yarn from the supply coil to the endless conveyor belt is blocked during the period in which the endless conveyor belt is in motion, it is impossible for an exchanged take-up spool to reach the conveyor belt at the same instant that a take-up spool core coming from another winding station is located at the particular place on the endless conveyor belt. Moreover, it is particularly advantageous for preserving and protecting the surface of the take-up spool, especially cross-wound spools, that the fully wound take-up spool be placed on the endless belt when it is stationary so that at the moment of delivery thereto no relative motion can occur between the crosswound spool surface and the surface of the endless conveyor.

I also consider it to be well within the scope of my invention, without departing from the essential features thereof, to block the supply of wound take-up spools from reaching the conveyor belt when the latter is moving, by providing a blocking member in the delivery path of the wound take-up spool between the spool holder and the conveyor belt. Such a blocking member can be connected by suitable linkages to the lever 522 or to the armature of the electromagnet 601 and can be suitably actuated by the electromagnet 601, in the manner aforedescribed, to directly block the movement of the wound take up spool 21 to the conveyor belt 307 by extending the blocking member into its path of movement.

Since the removal of take-up spols from the endless conveyor belt requires only a fraction of the time necessary for winding the take-up spool (for a machine having about 50 spindles this operation lasts less than two minutes), blocking the take-up spool exchange apparatus in accordance with my invention causes practically no loss in production for the individual winding stations. The probability that a take-up spool will require changing during this relatively short period in which the endless conveyor belt is in motion is extremely slight. On the other hand, the blocking of the take-up spool exchange apparatus has particular advantages if the take-upspool exchange apparatus is provided for servicing an aggregation of many winding stations successively. Besides regulating the takeup spool exchange operation, the blocking mechanism then also regulates or controls the supply spool exchange as well as repeated tying of broken yarns. Moreover, blocking of the take-up spool exchange apparatus by the device shown in the ligure and constructed in accordance with my invention has a quite general advantage in that the spacing between the take-up spool holder and the endless conveyor belt can be kept relatively small, since an intermediate location, at which the take-up spool would have had to be held by a blocking member while the endless conveyor belt is in motion, is no longer required in an apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention.

I claim:

1. In an automatic yarn-package winding machine having automatic take-up spool exchange mechanism and conveyor means for removing from the machine wound take-np spools exchanged by the exchange mechanism and delivered thereto, means for operating the conveyor means discontinuously, and blocking means for preventing the delivery of wound take-up spools to the conveyor means when the conveyor means is in operation.

2. In a winding machine according to claim 1, said blocking means comprising mechanism for blocking the operation of the take-up spool exchange mechanism.

3. In a winding machine according to claim 2 having automatically driven cam means for periodically operating the take-up spool exchange mechanism, said blocking mechanism being actuable, when the conveyor means is in operation, to prevent the cam means from being driven.

4. In a winding machine according to claim 3, said blocking mechanism comprising electromagnet means electrically connected with a motor for operating the conveyor means, said electromagnet means having an armature actuable when said motor is energized for inserting a detent into a corresponding recess in the cam means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,273,123 2/1942 McDaniels 198--79 X 2,441,469 5/ 1948 Cameron 198-79 3,160,359 12/1964 Furst -..M2-35.5

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN AN AUTOMATIC YARN-PACKAGE WINDING MACHINE HAVING AUTOMATIC TAKE-UP SPOOL EXCHANGE MECHANISM AND CONVEYOR MEANS FOR REMOVING FROM THE MACHINE WOUND TAKE-UP SPOOLS EXCHANGED BY THE EXCHANGE MECHANISM AND DELIVERED THERETO, MEANS FOR OPERATING THE CONVEYOR MEANS DISCONTINOUSLY, AND BLOCKING MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE 